Tracking the Tigers with MLB.com beat writer Jason Beck.

Tigers to call up Dolsi

Freddy Dolsi will get another shot at the big leagues beginning Tuesday, when the Tigers recall the right-hander from Triple-A Toledo. The team announced the move Monday as the follow-up to Sunday’s postgame move that optioned Ryan Perry to the Mud Hens.

The 26-year-old Dolsi is 2-2 with a 4.35 ERA and four saves in 24 appearances with the Hens this year, but has seemingly found his game in June after opponents batted .409 against him in May. Since the start of this month, he has allowed two runs on eight hits over 10 2/3 innings and converted three saves.

Dolsi made 42 appearances for the Tigers last year with a 1-5 record and two saves to go with a 3.97 ERA over 47 2/3 innings. He made an early impression with the club after arriving in May, but fell into command struggles, evidenced by his 28 walks.

UPDATE: Also on Saturday, the Tigers outrighted the contract of catcher Dane Sardinha to Toledo. Detroit designated Sardinha for assignment after Friday’s game, replacing him at backup catcher with prospect Dusty Ryan.

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9 Comments

They took the guy who’s pitching the best, as they usually do. That’s fine. Dolsi may not be much of an improvement over Perry, that remains to be seen, but the goal is to have Perry himself be an improvement over Perry. The Perry I saw in spring training was lights out. Hopefully we can get him back and effective before the season is over.
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Boras is back peddling now, but he’s already made his point. Lawyers, man………
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I’d like to get Ordonez back in there against some lefties first, as JL did with Thames, but I don’t see many on the horizon. I just hope that Maggs replaces a non-bunting Anderson or Raburn, and not Marcus. And you’ve got to continue to ride Kelly while he’s hot.
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–Rich

I don’t agree with this move. Dolsi might prove me wrong but I am very leary of him being able to NOT walk people.
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Ni does not walk many nor does Fien.
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BTW, Lucas French is excelling down there lately. He has come a long way in a year.

Over those last 10.2 innings, Dolsi has walked one, less than Fien over a similar stretch. Ni is lefthanded and neither he or Fien are on the 40-man roster. Plus Freddy has been here before. It all makes sense to me.
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I’m looking forward to seeing Ni with the big club. If we ever figure out what to do with Nate, he may be here soon. September at least?
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Hopefully we can put some games between us and Minnesota this week. I doubt the Brewers keep losing at home.
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–Rich

First off, I am going to law school this fall, Rich, so I hope you don’t paint all lawyers with the same brush haha.
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The thing with Dolsi is it helps the Tigers in three potential ways. First, if he pitches well, they have a useful bullpen arm. Second, they could parlay any usefulness into trade value for Dolsi in hopes of using him to help at the deadline. Third, if he pitches poorly, they can at least know what they have with him and whether or not he should remain in their plans. I think this gets overlooked sometimes on callups. The team needs to see how guys handle the big leagues the second time around because it is likely to be a better read on their future than a first call-up.

I would have gone for Rapada at this stage as Seay is pitching well and increasingly being used by JL for late innings work with Zoom’s season starting to unravel. Nate is doing nothing right so having a third lefty would not have gone astray – particularly as Clay is pitching well against LH 1.42 ERA and RH 2.2 ERA for a combined 1.99 ERA in AAA.
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Dolsi has had a hot & cold season with bats averaging .176 for April; .409 for May and .195 in June with an overall 4.35 ERA. He has improved on his walks to 11 in 31 IP with 1 in 10.2 IP for June.
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It could be that Rapada being out of options was the deciding factor given the transaction is likely to be short term with Perry coming back in a month or two. This allows them future choice between Rapada and Ni when they are able to offload Nate or bite the bullet on his contract.

Agreed on French. In fact, he was named the IL’s Pitcher of the Week yesterday. One problem with bringing up French, however, would’ve been whether you could use him right away. He just pitched eight innings with 10 strikeouts Sunday, so it’s hard to imagine he would’ve been available until Wednesday at the earliest.
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On Rapada, Dave, the Tigers could’ve called him up and optioned him back without a problem. As long as you have a Minor League option left at the start of the season, you could go up and down as many times as a team wants during that entire season. His options issue will come next year. It’s interesting that Leyland didn’t opt for Rapada to complement Seay, since Robertson isn’t really being used in a lefty role.

Thanks Jason – I didn’t realise an option carried the season. I definitely would have gone for Rapada over Dolsi. Dolsi should still go well though as last year he was solid in a bullpen falling apart.

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